In This Issue: Leadership Training Jon's Corner Conference Announcement Kile's Corner Website Update Training Opportunities for Self-Advocates, Support Staff and families.

Coffee Talks June was a great time for many of our chapters to gather in the community for coffee! Below members of our Machias/Downeast chapter shared a conversation about community mapping with advisor Stacy Giberson.

Leadership Training Continues Our Leadership training continued in Houlton. The class continued to work on team building, working together and using their strengths to their advantage. Below are some photos of team members working together to solve a puzzle/problem together. 

If you would like to be part of the next session of leadership training that will begin this fall please email info@sufumaine.org.

2023 SUFU Annual Conference  Mark Your Calendar! The 2023 SUFU Annual Conference is coming. September 19th and 20th in Waterville, ME. We will be celebrating 30 years of SUFU! Mark your calendars to come celebrate with us!

Jon's Corner Hi to all the Self Advocates in Maine    I’m here to talk about Juneteenth.  My Juneteenth was really a good day. For me I saw the different ways people Celebrate the Holiday Juneteenth on TV.  I got to know what Juneteenth really was from other people’s perspective on the holiday. Juneteenth is a holiday that a lot of people still don’t understand why we are celebrating this holiday.   I was able to learn about Juneteenth in our Statewide & also in our Chapter Meetings. I am still learning about Juneteenth and what people in our country have gone through to be free.  Their lives have been very different.  I am still learning from others what their lives have been like. Their culture is different, and it is good to learn from others.    I would love to hear the STORIES from the Families or Friends that had people that ENDURED all of what led to Juneteenth.

Training Opportunities through the Summer! Speaking Up For Us, along with the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council and Mad Hatter are excited to offer various training opportunities through the summer: In July and August the following trainings are offered:

Registration for the above webinars is now open. To register please click here

Starting August 1st on Tuesday's from 3-5 pm the following trainings are available:

Registration is required and is available at https://rb.gy/u3kss

Kile's Corner Hey, this is Kyle Pelletier again with another Kyles Corner for June 2023. June is the beginning of summer and time for vacations, barbecues, and spending time with family while still getting work done at the same time. It has been a busy month! One of the things that we do in the organization is that we have face-to-face meetings with our members. So, I just want to let you know that this month we had some of the face-to-face Coffee Times for Chapter meetings. We met with the Northern Aroostook Chapter members at the Dunkin' Donuts on Bennett Drive in Caribou. We started on our Continued Community Mapping, and we plan to make a guide of the different things we can see and the different things that we can do in our community. Yeah, I enjoy listening to the members and seeing what everyone has been up to, what everyone is planning this summer, and just talking about the other things that the SUFU organization has been doing. Self- Advocates should always take time to catch up with each other.  I hope all of you have a lot of plans this summer and just to soak up the sun. Have fun with your family, enjoy the fireworks, and take advantage of all the activities that are going on in your community.

Website Updates Speaking Up For Us is excited to announce that our website has been updated! We hope you find the new features to be beneficial. We will be continuing to make using our website a positive experience for all. Check it out at https://www.sufumaine.org/

Finally We invite you to check out our website . Read our most recent blog post and subscribe to future blogs. You can also find the list of our chapter meetings, or follow us on Facebook. If you are a SUFU member we want you to join our members only Facebook Group. To do that please email Laurie Coldwell or Jon McGovern. We don't want you to miss anything.

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Have an Idea for Something to be in The Connector? Contact: Laurie Coldwell Program Manager (207) 956-1004 / Ext. 1 lcoldwell@sufumaine.org

SUFU CONNECTOR Speaking Up For Us of Maine 207-956-1004 www.sufumaine.org